The Scoggins Report: March 2013 Spec Market Scorecard

It’s nice to be able to open with unqualified good news this week: Last week’s flurry of spec script sales finally put the 2013 spec market on par with 2012’s, and total spec sales for the year are finally ahead of total pitch sales as well. Still, the rolling shortage of new material on the market that started in February will continue to have an impact through at least the end of March.

The impact of that shortage is most vividly seen in the Buyers grids, below:

Three of the six major studios still haven’t bought a spec in 2013 (Columbia, Fox and Warner Bros.).

Only 5 Studio Buyers (the majors, their labels and the mini-majors) have bought specs so far this year, compared to 12 through the end of March 2012.

Only 13 Other Buyers have bought specs so far this year, compared to 22 through the end of March 2012.

Go big or go home, Hollywood. And enjoy the grids.

2013 Overall Numbers

Of 2013‘s 20 spec sales, 4 were of scripts that originally went out prior to 2012. Here are the spec market numbers through March 15…

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

New Specs

19

15

16

50

Spec Sales

8

5

7

20

2012

12

13

14

12

12

15

5

13

9

13

7

7

132

2011 *

3

13

15

9

7

12

10

5

7

20

8

10

132

2010 *

1

10

7

13

4

7

0

1

6

7

5

1

65

2009

3

12

10

9

10

6

5

3

4

5

4

1

72

* For 2010 and 2011, sales of scripts that originally went to market in years prior are not distributed monthly in the above table but have been added to the year-end totals. …and here are the monthly spec sales numbers in graph form.

The following are combined total spec and pitch sales numbers through March 15, with year over year monthly comparisons…

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

2012

2011

Specs

8

5

7

20

132

132

Pitches

4

10

5

19

81

106

Totals

12

15

12

39

213

238

2012 Total

20

20

22

26

16

22

13

16

13

19

10

15

2011 Total

7

21

28

16

15

28

20

9

12

30

16

24

…and here are those combined spec and pitch sales numbers in graph form as well.Spec Sales By Genre

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Total

2012

2011

2010

2009

Action/Adventure

2

2

1

5

29

20

16

15

Comedy

1

1

28

28

17

23

Drama

1

1

2

10

14

7

7

Fantasy

0

0

0

2

Horror

1

1

13

8

0

0

Sci-fi

2

1

1

4

15

15

5

7

Thriller

2

1

4

7

36

37

17

21

Spec Sales By Buyer – Studios

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Total

2012

2011

2010

2009

Columbia

0

8

7

1

5

Disney

1

1

2

2

2

2

Fox

0

6

8

2

3

Lionsgate

2

2

4

2

1

3

MGM

1

1

0

0

0

1

Paramount

1

1

11

5

4

5

Universal

1

1

9

5

2

6

Warner Bros.

0

7

14

9

6

Totals

2

2

2

6

47

43

21

31

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for the major Studio Buyers so far in 2013:

Pitches

Specs

Total

2012

2011

Columbia

1

1

16

16

Disney

1

1

12

11

Fox

2

2

12

16

Paramount

1

1

20

17

Universal

4

1

5

20

19

Warner Bros.

1

1

18

30

Spec Sales By Buyer – Other Buyers

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Total

2012

2011

2010

2009

1984

1

1

0

0

0

0

Aldamissa

1

1

1

0

0

0

Amazon

1

1

2

0

0

0

Boies/Shiller

1

1

0

0

0

0

Incognito

1

1

0

0

0

0

QED

1

1

4

0

1

0

Sentinel

1

1

1

0

0

0

Sierra/Affinity

1

1

0

0

0

0

Skydance

1

1

1

1

0

0

Sollipsist

1

1

0

0

0

0

Vendome

1

1

1

0

1

0

Voltage

1

1

4

3

0

0

Working Title

1

1

0

0

0

0

Totals

5

3

5

13

QED is the only non-studio buyer to have bought both a spec and a pitch so far this year.

Each of the following production companies has been attached to at least one spec sale so far this year. Names in bold are new or have been attached to an additional spec since the last Scorecard.

Allison Shearmur Productions

Anonymous Content

Broken Road

Crave Films

Disruption Entertainment (2)

Electric Entertainment

Industry Entertainment

Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Le Grisbi Productions

Midnight Kitchen

Platinum Dunes

Sean Daniel Company

Spec Sales by Seller – Agencies

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Total

2012

2011

2010

2009

CAA

1

1

16

26

11

14

ICM

0

8

13

4

10

Kaplan Stahler

1

1

0

0

0

0

Original Artists

1

1

6

4

3

4

Paradigm

1

2

3

9

10

2

1

UTA

2

2

4

24

17

7

10

Verve

1

1

5

4

1

WME

1

1

2

4

35

22

10

Totals

5

5

5

15

Here are the combined pitch and spec sales numbers for agencies that have sold at least one of each in 2013:

Pitches

Specs

Total

2012

2011

CAA

3

1

4

32

50

Paradigm

1

3

4

15

14

UTA

2

4

6

34

30

WME

6

4

10

62

50

The following 17 agents have been involved with at least one spec sale so far this year. Names in bold are new or sold an additional spec since the last Scorecard.

Three:

Mike Esola (WME)

Two:

David Boxerbaum (Paradigm)

Geoff Morley (UTA)

Ida Ziniti (Paradigm)

Marissa Devins (UTA)

One:

Adriana Alberghetti (WME)

Chris Licata (Paradigm)

Dan Erlij (UTA)

David Park (UTA)

Jason Burns (UTA)

Jon Huddle (UTA)

Josh Hornstock (UTA)

Matt Leipzig (Original)

Mickey Berman (UTA)

Rob Herting (Verve)

Shan Ray (KSA)

Todd Feldman (CAA)

Spec Sales by Seller – Management Companies

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Total

2012

2011

2010

2009

Apostle

1

1

1

0

0

0

Benderspink

1

1

2

5

5

2

5

Circle of Confusion

1

1

5

5

4

3

Energy

1

1

3

5

9

7

2

2

Fourth Floor

1

1

1

0

0

0

Industry

1

1

4

3

1

1

Jeff Ross

1

1

0

0

0

0

Linda Seifert

1

1

0

0

0

0

New Wave

1

1

8

7

0

0

Zero Gravity

1

1

2

1

1

1

0

Totals

5

4

7

16

Here are the combined pitch and spec sales for management companies that have sold at least one of each in 2013.

Pitches

Specs

Total

2012

2011

Apostle

2

1

3

2

3

Benderspink

1

2

3

9

6

Energy

2

5

7

15

7

Industry

1

1

2

5

3

The following 13 managers have been involved with at least one spec sale so far in 2013.

Five:

Brooklyn Weaver (Energy)

Two:

Jake Wagner (Benderspink)

Jeff Belkin (Zero Gravity)

One:

David Alpert (Circle)

DJ Talbot

George Heller (Apostle)

Greg Shephard (Circle)

Jeff Ross

Jeff Silver (Fourth Floor)

Josh Adler (New Wave)

Linda Seifert

Michael Botti (Industry)

Mike Goldberg (New Wave)

About The Scoggins Report:

The Scoggins Report is a terribly unscientific analysis of the feature film development business based on information assembled from a variety of public and non-public sources. The numbers in the reports are by no means official statistics.

About Script Magazine

Script has been the leading source for information on the craft and business of writing for film and television since 1995. With inside information, articles written by working writers and filmmakers, and in-depth interviews, Script is the resource on every scriptwriter's must-read list.